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Alex Murdaugh’s accomplice and friend Corey Fleming is now cooperating with the FBI over the convicted killer’s scheme to steal millions of dollars from his dead housekeeper’s family. Fleming, a longtime friend and law school classmate of the disgraced legal scion, accepted a plea deal with federal prosecutors this week over his involvement in Murdaugh’s financial fraud schemes. He appeared in federal court in South Carolina on Thursday where he pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. At the court hearing, Fleming confessed that he had taken part in one of Murdaugh’s financial schemes – and admitted that he knew what he was doing when he did so. Prosecutors allege that Murdaugh orchestrated a financial fraud scheme which included stealing almost $4.3m from the estate of Gloria Satterfield and its insurance carriers. Satterfield was the Murdaugh’s longtime housekeeper who died in a mysterious “trip and fall” accident at the prominent family’s 1,700-acre Moselle estate in South Carolina in 2018 – the same property where Murdaugh shot dead his wife Maggie and adult son Paul three years later. Following her death, Murdaugh recommended that Satterfield’s sons hire his friend and fellow attorney Fleming to represent them in bringing a wrongful death claim against him, so that they could collect from his homeowner’s insurance policies. The insurance companies ultimately settled the estate’s claim for more than $4m – two payments of $505,000 and $3.8m. Murdaugh and Fleming then stole the settlement money for themselves and the housekeeper’s sons didn’t get a dime. Much of the stolen money was funneled through a fake “Forge” bank account which sought to imitate the legitimate and totally unrelated business Forge Consulting. In accepting the plea deal, Fleming admitted that he helped Murdaugh steal the insurance money meant for Satterfield’s sons and has agreed to cooperate with the FBI and US Attorney’s office in the case. He has also agreed to submit to polygraph tests and to turn over his law licences in South Carolina and Georgia. He faces up to five years in federal prison and a fine of up to $250,000 when he is sentenced at a later date. He was released Thursday on a $25,000 unsecured bond. He is also facing separate state charges over the Satterfield case. Ronnie Richter, an attorney representing the Satterfield family, welcomed Fleming’s guilty plea. “This was a good day for justice because this is the first time anyone associated with the Satterfield case has pleaded guilty to anything,” he said. Fleming’s plea deal comes the same week that Murdaugh was indicted on a slew of new charges over their scheme. The South Carolina Attorney General’s Office announced on Wednesday that a federal grand jury had returned a 22-count indictment against the 54-year-old disgraced legal dynasty heir, charging him with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and bank fraud, bank fraud, wire fraud, and money laundering. The convicted killer was already awaiting trial on more than 100 financial crimes charges over a decade-long multi-million-dollar fraud scheme where Murdaugh stole millions from his law firm and legal clients – a scheme he confessed to orchestrating when he took the stand at his murder trial. But, now he has been hit with a further 22 charges for what prosecutors describe as three separate schemes to steal money from personal injury clients he represented through his law firm. As well as the scheme with Fleming, prosecutors allege that Murdaugh ran a second scheme from at least September 2005 to September 2021, where he allegedly routed and redirected clients’ settlement funds into his own pocket including by directing his law firm colleagues to pay the funds directly into his personal account. In the third scheme, Murdaugh and his banker Russell Laffitte allegedly conspired from July 2011 to October 2021 to commit wire fraud and bank fraud. Laffitte, who was CEO of Palmetto State Bank at the time, acted as Murdaugh’s personal banker and as a custodian or conservator for some of his law firm clients. Laffitte then conspired to defraud those clients, with the two men diverting the money to themselves. Laffitte was convicted in November of financial fraud charges in connection to Murdaugh’s alleged white collar fraud schemes. Murdaugh faces up to 30 years in prison on the highest charges of wire fraud, bank fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud in the new indictment. His other financial charges already amount to more than 700 years in prison if convicted. Even without the financial charges, Murdaugh will already spend the remainder of his life in prison after he was found guilty on 2 March of murdering his wife Maggie and son Paul on the family’s Moselle property back on 7 June 2021. Murdaugh was sentenced to life in prison the day after the verdict. Satterfield, who worked for the family for more than 20 years, was found at the bottom of the steps leading into the family’s home. She never resumed consciousness and died from her injuries three weeks later on 26 February. At the time, Murdaugh claimed that she had tripped over the family’s dogs and hit her head, and her death was regarded as an accidental fall. However, her death certificate cited her manner of death as “natural” and no autopsy was ever carried out. Questions have been swirling around Satterfield’s death for the past few years as the string of deaths, stolen money and corruption surrounding Murdaugh came to light. In September 2021, an investigation was reopened into her death and investigators said they planned to exhume her body. Satterfield’s death isn’t the only mystery death tied to the South Carolina legal dynasty. A homicide investigation has also been opened into the 2015 death of Stephen Smith, who was found dead in the middle of a road in Hampton County. The openly gay 19-year-old had suffered blunt force trauma to the head and his death was officially ruled a hit-and-run. But Smith’s family have long doubted this version of events, with the Murdaugh name cropping up in several police tips and community rumours. At the time of his murder, Paul was also awaiting trial for the boat crash death of Mallory Beach. Read More Alex Murdaugh indicted on 22 new financial fraud charges for stealing money from dead housekeeper’s family Audio reveals Alex Murdaugh blaming dogs for housekeeper’s death – after he walked back claim five years later Stephen Smith’s body is exhumed after murder near Murdaugh home – as family offers $35k reward to catch killer

It transpires there are different kinds of problems involving the Liverpool midfield. Last season was a tale of the aged, the injured, the inconsistent and the incoherent, the malfunctioning midfield that meant a champion team suddenly looked disjointed and disappointing. If it was an exaggeration to say Liverpool didn’t have a midfield last season, in a sense they don’t have one now. Or not their old midfield, anyway. An exodus was partly planned, partly thrust upon Jurgen Klopp by Saudi Arabia’s injection of money and unexpected wish to acquire defensive midfielders. Perhaps Jordan Henderson and Fabinho will not be able to gegenpress in 45-degree heat, but it is not Klopp’s immediate concern; if the plan was for two new faces to feature in his first-choice midfield, a complete overhaul has become necessary. He wanted change and got a revolution instead. Of the six midfield departures, Arthur Melo – he of the solitary, 13-minute appearance – is still more of an afterthought now. Naby Keita and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain are cases of what might have been, some of their potential left unrealised amid spells on the treatment table. But James Milner, Henderson and Fabinho were three of the quintessential Klopp midfielders: the fourth, Gini Wijnaldum, left in 2021. Between them, they played 1063 times for Klopp; they rank second, fourth, 17th and 11th respectively for most appearances in the German’s managerial career and, even including his days at Mainz and Borussia Dortmund, no central midfielders have lined up as often for him. They were the men who made his teams work, the rhythm section of his heavy-metal football, leaving the glamorous jobs to others. There were always other midfielders, but they were usually those trusted for the big occasions. In the 2018 Champions League final, Milner and Wijnaldum flanked Henderson. Come the 2019 final, when Fabinho had joined, he had the anchor role, with Henderson and Wijnaldum either side and Milner deployed as a specialist finisher, using his experience to see out the victory. The Dutchman was a different sort of finisher on Klopp’s greatest night: initially benched for the second leg against Barcelona, Wijnaldum came on at half-time, as Milner switched to left back, to score twice in a 4-0 triumph. All of which was uncharacteristic. Those 1063 appearances produced just 71 goals, a total that would have been smaller still but for Milner’s excellent penalty-taking. There were 99 assists, too, but to put that in context, Kevin De Bruyne got 149 on his own for Manchester City since Klopp’s appointment at Anfield, plus 92 goals. It illustrates it is a comparison of opposites. The definitive Klopp midfielders were the selfless support acts, defined by what they did not do – score, for instance – and where they did not go: the penalty area, or not often anyway. The full backs usurped them as creators; the goals came largely from the front three; if most great teams have at least one goalscoring midfielder, and Klopp’s Dortmund protégé Ilkay Gundogan developed a potent streak for Pep Guardiola and alongside De Bruyne, his Liverpool were the exception. His core four at Liverpool were the masters of the unspectacular: workhorses who ran many a mile, though often in relatively short distances, experienced figures who were experts at positional discipline. They were a reason why, at their best, Liverpool were rarely caught on the counter-attack, even when Andy Robertson and Trent Alexander-Arnold were in the final third. Liverpool were never a pure possession team but Wijnaldum, in particular, tended to have very high pass-completion statistics. It was in part because they were rarely charged with playing the most ambitious balls but Wijnaldum, especially, made playing in a Klopp midfield look deceptively simple: as his far greater goalscoring return for the Netherlands showed, his was a self-sacrificial role, playing within himself with the intelligence to make the tactics of a narrow 4-3-3 work. In one respect, Fabinho is the anomaly. He was the specialist defensive midfielder. The other three were all multifunctional grafters, their broader skillsets equipping them for many a task (often playing full back in Milner’s case). None was an out-and-out playmaker, but they brought combativity and understated chemistry. It amounted to a triumph of all-rounders: whereas some midfields were combinations of players with contrasting attributes, Liverpool prospered with those with similar strengths. Maybe an ethos has changed now. Klopp’s first two summer midfield additions, Alexis Mac Allister and Dominik Szoboszlai, offer the prospect of more goals than his quintessential quartet ever provided: after the shift in formation towards the end of last season, when Alexander-Arnold came to join Fabinho at the base of the midfield, Klopp referred to his more advanced pair as “two [No] 10s”. And if Wijnaldum could play as a genuine No 10 elsewhere, Milner and Henderson rarely did. Mac Allister and Szoboszlai, however, can meet the description. But maybe the newcomers will discover they are charged with copying their predecessors. Perhaps the beginning of the end for Klopp’s original midfield can be traced to the signing of Thiago Alcantara, to the sign he wanted something more stylish. But suddenly, an era has ended. Klopp’s four favourite workhorses are all gone. There may not be an all-conquering midfield quite like them again. Read More Jurgen Klopp responds after Kylian Mbappe to Liverpool rumours Liverpool name Virgil van Dijk as new captain after Jordan Henderson exit Liverpool confirm Fabinho transfer in latest Saudi Arabia move Lauren James on song as England thrash China – Tuesday’s sporting social Sadio Mane’s swift decline reaches new low Liverpool make second Romeo Lavia bid as Southampton set transfer price

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Here are the AP’s latest coverage plans, top stories and promotable content. All times EDT. For up-to-the minute information on AP’s coverage, visit Coverage Plan. Get an early look at weekend coverage with the Weekend-Lookahead-Digest. ———————————— TOP STORIES ———————————— RUSSIA-UKRAINE-WAR — Russian President Vladimir Putin has addressed the nation and vowed to defend the country and its people from an armed rebellion declared by mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin. Putin said the mutiny amounted to “a deadly threat to our statehood” and vowed “tough actions” in response. SENT: 1,290 words, photos, audio. TRUMP-MISINFORMATION-ANALYSIS — Donald Trump continues to shatter the norms of American politics. No president has ever scorned the truth as regularly as Trump, who continues to lie about his loss to Joe Biden in the 2020 election. As the 2024 race heats up, the nation faces the prospects of another campaign marred by falsehoods and misinformation. An AP News Analysis by David Klepper. SENT: 1,180 words, photo. TITANIC-TOURIST-SUB — Authorities from the U.S. and Canada began the process of investigating the cause of the fatal Titan submersible implosion even as they grappled with questions of who was responsible for determining how the tragedy unfolded. A formal inquiry has not yet been launched because maritime agencies are still busy searching the area where the vessel was destroyed, killing all five people aboard, the U.S. Coast Guard says. By Patrick Whittle and Jennifer McDermott. SENT: 980 words, photos, video, audio. With TITANIC-TOURIST-SUB-WHY-IT-RESONATED — What the Titanic submersible saga and the Greek migrant shipwreck say about our reactions to tragedy; TITANIC-TOURIST-SUB-PAST-EXPERIENCES — Previous passengers recall ill-fated Titan: ‘I 100% knew this was going to happen;' TITANIC-TOURIST SUB-TICK TOCK — Follow the timeline of the Titan submersible’s journey from departure to discovery; TITANIC-TOURIST-SUB-COSTS — How much did Titan search cost? US Coast Guard’s bill alone will be in the millions, experts say (all sent). AIRLINES-SUSTAINABLE-FUEL — When it comes to flying, going green may cost you more. And it’s going to take a while for the strategy to take off. Sustainability was a hot topic this week at the Paris Air Show, the world’s largest event for the aviation industry, which faces increasing pressure to reduce the climate-changing greenhouse gases that aircraft spew. By Airlines Writer David Koenig. SENT: 900 words, photos. IRAN-RESTORING-CADILLACS — A restorer in Iran is bringing back the Cadillac Sevilles once assembled in the country. The Seville represented the height of luxury in Iran just before the 1979 Islamic Revolution. General Motors had partnered with an Iranian firm to build the sedans, selling them for two-and-a-half times the price in America at the zenith of the country’s oil wealth. By Amir Vahdat. SENT: 950 words, photos. HOMELESS-PETS-STREET-VETERINARIAN — A California veterinarian is caring for the pets of the state’s homeless population. Dr. Kwane Stewart calls himself the Street Vet. He started caring for homeless pets nearly a decade ago after first helping a flea-infested dog outside a convenience store. He regularly walks into the heart of infamous Skid Row in Los Angeles in his work for his nonprofit, Project Street Vet. California is home to nearly a third of the country’s homeless population. Advocacy group Pets of the Homeless says about 10% of homeless people nationally have pets. But Stewart believes that number is higher, and says his goal is to help as many of the pets as possible. By Janie McCauley. SENT: 900 words, photos. ——————————————————- MORE ON RUSSIA-UKRAINE-WAR —————————————————— RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR-IRAN DRONES — The United States, Britain and France demands that the United Nations urgently investigate Russia’s reported use of hundreds of Iranian-provided drones in the war in Ukraine, which would violate U.N. sanctions. But it’s unclear whether the U.N. will do so in the face of strong opposition from Russia. SENT: 410 words, photos. RUSSIA-WAGNER-GROUP-EXPLAINER — The head of the private military contractor Wagner called Friday for an armed rebellion aimed at ousting Russia’s defense minister. Russian security services reacted immediately by opening a criminal investigation into Yevgeny Prigozhin. SENT: 1,200 words, photos. RUSSIA-PRIGOZHIN — Once a low-profile businessman who benefited from having President Vladimir Putin as a powerful patron, Yevgeny Prigozhin moved into the global spotlight with Russia’s war in Ukraine. As the leader of a mercenary force who depicts himself as fighting many of the Russian military’s toughest battles in Ukraine, the 62-year-old Prigozhin has now moved into his most dangerous role yet: preaching open rebellion against his country’s military leadership. SENT: 970 words, photo. ——————————————————- SPOTLIGHTING VOICES ——————————————————- HAWAIIAN-DRAG-QUEENS — The concept of gender fluidity — or “mahu” — has existed easily in Hawaii for hundreds of years, the hallmark of a culture that offers space between the concepts of male and female and uses a language that lacks gendered pronouns. Now, as anti-LGBTQ rhetoric inflames the country, Native Hawaiians are making a move to remind modern generations of the respected place gender fluidity holds in their own culture. SENT: 1,120 words, photos. —————————— MORE NEWS —————————— MCCARTHY-TRUMP IMPEACHMENT — House Speaker Kevin McCarthy has said he supports the idea of expunging the two impeachments of Donald Trump as hard-right Republican allies of the former president introduce a pair of proposals to declare it as though the historic charges never happened. SENT: 500 words, photo. TRUMP-CLASSIFIED-DOCUMENTS — The Justice Department has asked a judge on to postpone until December the criminal trial of former President Donald Trump for retaining classified documents. SENT: 200 words, photo. OBIT-SAROKIN — H. Lee Sarokin, the federal judge who freed boxer Rubin “Hurricane” Carter and in a landmark case famously said tobacco companies engaged in a “vast” conspiracy to conceal the dangers of smoking, has died in California, news outlets report. He was 94. SENT: 430 words, photos. PEOPLE-JULIAN-SANDS — The family of actor Julian Sands has released its first statement five months after he disappeared while hiking in California. SENT: 200 words, photos. ———————————————————- WASHINGTON/ POLITICS ———————————————————- INTELLIGENCE-COVID-ORIGINS — U.S. officials have released an intelligence report that rejected some points raised by those who argue COVID-19 leaked from a Chinese lab, instead reiterating that American spy agencies remain divided over how the pandemic began. SENT: 570 words, photo. HUNTER BIDEN-GARLAND — Attorney General Merrick Garland has pushed back against claims from IRS whistleblowers that the Justice Department interfered with the investigation into Hunter Biden, saying more broadly that attacks on the department’s independence are corrosive. SENT: 620 words, photos, audio. ——————————- NATIONAL ——————————— PHILANTHROPY-ABORTION-FUNDING — The ″ rage giving ″ did not last. Abortion access groups who received a windfall of donations following the Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade one year ago say those emergency grants have ended and individual and foundation giving has dropped off. SENT: 1,170 words, photos. TRANSGENDER-BIRTH-CERTICATES-KANSAS — Transgender people born in Kansas could be prevented from changing their birth certificates to reflect their gender identities if the state’s conservative Republican attorney is successful with a legal move he has launched. SENT: 940 words, photo. FOUR-KILLED-UNIVERSITY-OF-IDAHO-GAG-ORDER — An Idaho judge has denied a request from roughly two dozen news organizations to lift a gag order in the criminal case of a man accused of stabbing four University of Idaho students to death. The judge did, however, significantly narrow the gag order in response to the news organizations’ concerns. SENT: 730 words, photo. BOOK-BAN-WEEKEND — Book bans and how to fight them will be a major focus of the American Library Association’s annual meeting this weekend in Chicago. Librarians may attend sessions aimed at helping them confidently counter book challenges, fight legislative censorship and ensure “access to information and the freedom to read.” All day, attendees are invited to climb atop a giant chair to read their favorite banned book. SENT: 520 words, photos. DRAG-SHOW-LAW-FLORIDA — A federal judge has temporarily blocked a new Florida law targeting drag shows that was championed by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis. SENT: 350 words, photo. FENTANYL-SUPPLY CHAIN — The U.S. Justice Department has filed criminal charges against four Chinese companies and eight individuals for allegedly trafficking the chemicals used to make the highly addictive painkiller fentanyl in the United States and Mexico. SENT: 500 words, photos. BORDER-PATROL-FATAL SHOOTING — U.S. Customs and Border Protection has released body camera footage that shows Border Patrol agents were concerned that a tribal member they fatally shot last month may have been carrying a handgun during an encounter on a remote corner of the Tohono O’odham Nation in southern Arizona. SENT: 430 words, photo. ————————————— INTERNATIONAL ————————————— BRITAIN-BATTLE-OF-BAMBER-BRIDGE — The village of Bamber Bridge in northwestern England is marking the 80th anniversary of what’s now known as the Battle of Bamber Bridge. When an all-Black U.S. Army regiment rolled into town during World War II, residents refused to accept the segregation ingrained in the U.S. military. But simmering tensions between Black soldiers and white military police exploded in June 1943 when a dispute outside a pub escalated into a night of violent confrontations. Now residents are telling the story of what happened that night and how it changed the treatment of Black soldiers in the United States. SENT: 1,470 words, photos. GREECE-ELECTIONS-THE-FRINGES — With the formerly ascendant, Nazi-inspired Golden Dawn party broken, its leadership in prison, and the anti-Western left defanged, Greece’s political fringes are looking more gauche than sinister. Still, up to five small parties — three on the far right and two on the far left — could conceivably reach the 3% support needed to enter Parliament in Sunday’s repeat elections, despite a swing back to mainstream politicians as the scars of Greece’s 10-year financial crisis gradually heal. SENT: 830 words, photos. ISRAEL-PALESTINIANS — A Palestinian assailant has opened fire at an Israeli military checkpoint in the occupied West Bank before being shot and killed, Israeli police said, the latest incident in months of escalating violence. SENT: 360 words, photo. UNITED-NATIONS-SUDAN — The U.N. Security Council has called for a halt to fighting in Sudan and the protection of civilians. The brief press statement followed closed consultations by the U.N.’s most powerful body. SENT: 270 words, photos. ————————————————— BUSINESS/ECONOMY ————————————————- FORD-BATTERY-PLANTS-TENNESSEE — Massive battery plants planned in Tennessee and Kentucky for Ford’s electric vehicles are on track to receive up to a $9.2 billion federal loan in what would be the biggest award under the U.S. Department of Energy’s loan program since President Joe Biden took office. SENT: 790 words, photos. HEAT DOME-FOSSIL FUEL-LAWSUIT — Oregon’s most populous county is suing more than a dozen fossil fuel companies to recover costs related to extreme weather events. SENT: 410 words, photo. ————————- SPORTS ————————— BKN--SPURS-WEMBANYAMA ARRIVES — The chants from hundreds of fans, some of whom waited outside for hours in nearly 100-degree heat, started at the very moment Victor Wembanyama stepped out of the private plane that carried him to his new NBA home. And the NBA’s newest No. 1 draft pick reveled in his first San Antonio moment, waving at the fans and letting them know how much he was enjoying it all. SENT: 740 words, photos. ——————————————- HOW TO REACH US ——————————————- At the Nerve Center, Vincent K. Willis can be reached at 800-845-8450 (ext. 1600). For photos, (ext. 1900). For graphics and interactives, ext. 7636. Expanded AP content can be obtained from AP Newsroom. For access to AP Newsroom and other technical issues, contact apcustomersupport@ap.org or call 844-777-2006. Read More Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide UK village marks 80th anniversary of fight against US Army racism in World War II UK village marks struggle against US Army racism in World War II Want a climate-friendly flight? It's going to take a while and cost you more